How people slept in the past

[WLJ]

And by that I mean not in what kind of bed etc... but when.
Interesting if true how breaking up our sleep into two separate shifts changed with the industrial revolution into one long sleep shift.
The writer notes how people separated from modern lighting and clocks often start up the habit again

For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why? And how did the habit disappear?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep

[Hawkmoon]

I know I have seen articles on this before. Did we discuss it here, maybe six months or a year ago?

[Perd Hapley]

I know I have seen articles on this before. Did we discuss it here, maybe six months or a year ago?

I remember this, too.

[Ben]

I know I have seen articles on this before. Did we discuss it here, maybe six months or a year ago?

More like ten years ago (or more). 

I remember finding it interesting, because you would think that to be a schedule that would develop with technology. I mean, I get up around 0500, and this time of the year, it doesn't get light until after 0800 here. I don't know what I'd be doing for those three hours without electricity, good lighting and modern climate control.

I understand getting up for a little while in the middle of night to stoke the fire and do other things you might have to do pre-modern conveniences.

people would tend to ordinary tasks, such as adding wood to the fire, taking remedies, or going to urinate (often into the fire itself).

That last part must have been a little hard on the women. 

[230RN]

What a drift that remark will cause.

I've grooved into that two (or three) sleep period pattern since I retired.

Back in my between high school and college days I had a two-week opportunity for ad lib. sleeping and eating and found myself falling into that pattern, but not completely.

[Bogie]

When I was younger, if nothing else was going on, I'd find myself going for 24 hours, crashing for 8-10 hours, and then doing it again.

[lee n. field]

What a drift that remark will cause.

I've grooved into that two (or three) sleep period pattern since I retired.

Back in my between high school and college days I had a two-week opportunity for ad lib. sleeping and eating and found myself falling into that pattern, but not completely.

One of the reasons I'm going to half time is to let my sleep schedule float a bit and try to be able to get enough sleep.  Because I'm just not now.

[gunsmith]

i get up on saturday at ten or 11 so i do not have to turn on the heat - i turn the heat on at 0330 during the week and turn it off at 0445 and leave for work 0500. 

if left to natural inclinations i would go to bed at midnight and get up at nine most days - especially in the summer .

I think sleep habits changed with industrialization

[grampster]

Sleep habits change when one retires as well.  I nap usually for a couple hours in the afternoon...might even split it up into a couple hour long naps.  I usually go to bed at night between 10 and 12, but there are times I just start nodding off around 8 or so, and I head off to the creeper around 8:30 or 9PM.  I rarely get up before 8AM except to pee or get a drink of water.

[Cliffh]

if left to natural inclinations i would go to bed at midnight and get up at nine most days - especially in the summer .

That's what I end up doing on (my) Fri & Sat nights.  Up until midnight, sleep until 0800 or so.

In the '80's I was working the graveyard shift (midnight to 0800) and racing.  I'd often be up for 24 to 36 hours at a stretch, wrenching & racing.  No way I could do that now....

[MechAg94]

Seems like I recall us talking about this subject, but the premise wasn't "two shifts", it was just that people would wake up for a bit in the middle of night.  Someone mentioned older prayer books specifically for reciting during this period. 

I wonder if this would change depending on what time of year it was.  Nights are long in the Winter, but a bit shorter during the summer. 


I seem to remember people doing experiments where people would stay down in an underground chamber for a some months.  Apparently, their sleeping patterns would drift away from the normal day night cycle.  Sometimes staying up for fairly long periods. 

[RoadKingLarry]

seem to remember people doing experiments where people would stay down in an underground chamber for a some months.  Apparently, their sleeping patterns would drift away from the normal day night cycle.  Sometimes staying up for fairly long periods.

You really want to destroy your natural circadian rhythm?
Try months on end submerged on a submarine living an 18 hour days for years on end, 6 on 12 off with no daylight for 90 days at a time (my personal longest was only 89 days).
30+ years with that in my rear view mirror and I still have issues.